Article in Ukrainian. 

On the 6^th of June Ukrainian journalists celebrate their professional day. This is a good occasion to congratulate the colleagues, mention the challenges of the profession and the necessary reforms. At the same time in the career of every one of us regardless of the date on the calendar occur personal "Journalist’s Days". Those that give us invaluable experience, memorable adventures or show the importance of the profession. Those that become our guides in life and that we’ll remember forever.

We asked journalists from around the world to share their personal stories. The topic of the essay: "One day in my career". No limits, we accept all answers. Social networks provided the instant communication with Australia and Zimbabwe, Macedonia and Egypt. We received answers: "Sounds good, cool idea", "I am in journalism for over 25 years, much has happened, I have to think", "Okay, I’ll send you it in an hour", "I am a young journalist , is it okay?"…We are sharing with readers all the answers – different as we are, but so clear for every journalist.

Eka Maghaldadze, Georgia

journalist at Liberali Magazine and www.liberali.ge

One of the most memorable days was when I was working on a reportage in the north of Georgia, in Svaneti region. I was in the village Khaishi which would be completely flooded if the huge hydro power station Khudoni had been built. The whole village – 200 families refused to resettle and were extremely against of their homes, graves of their relatives and religious sanctities being flooded.

It was one of the first reportages for the beginner journalist. These were exactly the days when I felt it was too difficult not to become a part of the story itself, after spending several days living with those people, sharing their lifestyle, doing what they were doing and recording why they were against to resettle, and observing their everyday life.

After 4 days the public hearing of the project was arranged and it attracted the attention of central media but still I was only one of the few journalists who covered the story, and I remember I was observing how journalists from pro-governmental media outlets were choosing “right” respondents, how TV journalists were shooting just 30 sec sound bites, while there were dozens of human stories and arguments beyond that event. It was exactly when to my surprise I realized how much differently or superficially the majority of society would get the information about the project and processes in the village at that day. At that moment I felt all the strength and influence of media and also I felt the real value of conscientious and honest journalistic work, the importance of showing the facts as they were. It brought me to the main principle of the work of the journalist – always let people speak about themselves, let them share their stories.

Brogen Hayes, Ireland

deputy Editor at Movies.ie and M+ Magazine

I have been a film journalist in Ireland for over 10 years. During that time there have been many incredible days, but a recent one stands out.

This year I had the pleasure of covering the Cannes Film Festival for Movies Plus (M+) Magazine and Movies.ie. The days at Cannes consist of early starts, late nights and lots of queues, but the eager anticipation for films, and being part of the biggest film festival in the world is worth the hassle.

On one particular day at Cannes this year, I had the intense pleasure and honour of interviewing Woody Allen for his latest film ‘Irrational Man’, which premiered Out of Competition at the festival. The roundtable was slightly chaotic, as journalists clamoured to ask Mr Allen questions, but he was funny, honest and seemed more than happy to give us his time. The same went for actress Parker Posey – who I have long been a fan of – who I also interviewed for ‘Irrational Man’.

Walking back down the Croisette to the Palais, I was filled with gratitude and a feeling of disbelief; it was a beautifully sunny day, and I had just interviewed one of the most legendary American directors of all time. It is easy to get jaded and tired of watching mediocre or bad films, but there are just some moments when you remember why it is you do what you do.

Later that afternoon, I sat down with Irish actor Colin Farrell to talk about his film In Competition at Cannes – ‘The Lobster’ – and his thoughts on the upcoming Marriage Referendum in Ireland. Colin is always a delight to interview, and being the gentleman that he is – and perhaps hearing my Irish accent – after the interview he came over to me to have a chat. We got talking about mutual friends and acquaintances and grabbed a moment for a quick photo to accompany my article, which promptly blew up online.

There are days, as a film journalist, that feel repetitive and uninteresting, but every one in a while, a truly manic day comes along – like my day in Cannes – that reminds me that I am incredibly lucky to do something I love for a living, and to have the honour of sitting down to talk with people who, as a child, I admired, but never imagined I would be in the same space as.

Nolan Peterson, USA

foreign correspondent at The Daily Signal, a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan

I was in Afghanistan on my first assignment as a war correspondent. It was an epic two weeks, mainly because it marked my return to a war in which I had once been a participant (I was an Air Force special operations pilot prior to becoming a journalist)—and now I was there as a witness and an impartial observer. I arrived in Kabul and spent one night at the NATO base at the airport. The next day I loaded onto a C-130 cargo plane for the flight up to Bagram Air Base, a former Soviet airfield from the war in the 1980s, which has been become the main NATO and U.S. hub for military operations. I stepped off the plane, and lining the horizon were the high snow-capped peaks of the Hindu Kush. Suddenly everything felt familiar.

When I was a pilot and I had been based here at Bagram, and now I remembered all the sights and sounds of the war like they had been locked away by the intervening years. An Army Sgt. picked me up from the runway, and I told him I had one stop to make. When I explained why, he smiled. A few minutes I was waiting on a picnic bench when a lone soldier with a wide smile approached. He was my little brother. He was an Air Force captain at the time, and was deployed to Afghanistan for six months. We hugged and talked about how bizarre it was to see each other in a war zone. We spent the day together, eating lunch at the chow hall, and that night we smoked a couple Cuban cigars as we watched F-16s take off to go patrol for the Taliban.

I have a lot of memories of the different wars I’ve been to as a journalist. But that one stands out from the rest. Seeing my little brother in war reminded me of how many other people have brothers, sister, husbands and wives in harms way. And how many civilians around the world are caught in the crossfire of conflicts they had nothing to do with. Seeing my little brother in war reminded me why it is so important to get these stories right.

Mimoza Petrevska, Macedonia

journalist at daily newspaper Nova Makedonija

It appeared that the turning point in my life became a turning point in my career, too. It was the day when I gave birth to my daughter Ilina who has Down syndrome and was born with her twin sister Bisera. At that moment, my whole world came tumbling down and I had to pause my life and career for a considerable time. I could not simultaneously bear the burden of my profession as a journalist, which requires a lot of devotion, and to be a mother of a child with special needs. however, in those difficult times, I found myself standing in front of the door that led to a completely different world which I was totally unfamiliar with – the world of the people who were different from us. I wanted to take a small peek and see what was hiding behind that door, but for a long time I did not have the courage, until one day in December.

I woke up with a feeling of a lump in my stomach. I was in a late pregnancy with my third daughter and I was about to visit the daily care centre for people with severe handicap and to write an article for the magazine I then worked for. Although, my colleagues and the closest people around me tried to convince me not to go there by saying that I should not put myself to excessive stress, I decided to do it anyway. I owed this to my daughter and the other people with disabilities. I wanted to see how they lived and how they spent their days. Do they feel the joy as we do? What makes them sad? What is the purpose of their lifes?

It was a cold and sunny day in winter and I went there with a team from a telecommunication company, which wanted to surprise the people in the centre with some presents. Before I crossed the threshold, I could feel that my heart was racing. I was about to see how my daughter with Down Sundrome would live when she becomes an adult and I thought: “Is this the life that I want for her?” I felt as if the baby in my belly writhed from all of the emotions that were causing my body to shiver. The first thing I saw in the nicely ornamented room was dozens of shiny and cheerful eyes which were full of love and curiosity. Some of them would just smile timidly; some immediately started hugging me, and some were sitting in their wheelchairs, but all you could see was bliss on their faces. I looked at all those faces and I realized that there WAS nothing there that I should be afraid or ashamed of. Actually , I was in the safest place on Earth.

I sat next to a disabled child who was just rocking back and forth and muttering some sounds of inner joy. My heart rate calmed down and at the same time the New Year’s show began, the music turned on and there was a clown who was performing some incredible tricks. The atmosphere turned into euphoria which was filled with laughter and applause. At one moment, I felt that the child next to me reached my hand with his. With the touch, I felt so much warmth, so much love and trust, that tears started running down my cheeks. We watched the show holding each other's hands, and his face was filled with bliss and deep silent joy. My heart was full. All the eyes, the tears of joy, the crooked smiles were carved in my mind and my heart as if they were painted by Picasso as well as the incredibly positive energy that was being spread from each of them. That was the moment when I broke my personal and professional barrier and decided to dedicate a part of my work as a journalist to those people to reveal their life stories, the challenges and the problems their families faced.

Mimoza with her daughter Ilina

When I came back to work the next day, I thought that I would be unable to write the article, but it came out of me in one breath. That was probably one of the first articles in my country that were dealing with that issue. I was a bit disappointed that the editor that was in charge back then decided to publish the article without any photographs, because, according to him, they could disturb the readers. Had he come that day with me in the daily centre, he would not have had such opinion. But life taught me that the picture we see and the reality behind it are in fact two completely different things. After this, there was a series of my articles that covered a whole string of private worlds and personal stories that I hope helped to change the attitude towards these people in Macedonia.

Nathalia Prosperi Butti, Brazil

producer at TV Globo

The most memorable day in my career I guess was in June 2014, when the World Cup took place here. I live in Rio de Janeiro and the TV channel I work for (it's called TV Globo, the biggest one in Latin America) was supposed to show 24 hours of Copacabana, one of the most famous beaches in Brazil. We were staying there the whole day showing what was happening there. It was like being in the Tower of Babel – people from all over the world were there to share their passion for football and they were all too excited with the games and the meetings. At the same time, the countless problems of social violence we're dealing with were there, too. People were partying and being robbed at the same time. I was in the middle of a street party with foreigners and visited a police station at the same day. That day I could make an analogy between my country and my job – both are absolutely unsettling and unpredictable.

Roger Anis, Egypt

photojournalist at daily newspaper ALShorouk

There was this story I would never forget. It happened after the disperse of the islamists sits in, in Cairo who were supporting the ousted islamic president Morsi. All the media eyes were in Cairo, noticing what happened there and nobody was even thinking about the south. While in the south Christians were raped by islamist, their houses and churches were burnt downd. I was working for Al Shorouk Daily Newspaper and as a contributor photographer with the Associated Press Agency, i suggested that somebody had to go there and cover what was happening there and i was the first and only one who arrived in Minya, one of the biggest cities where the attacks on christians their homes and churches took place. I covered everything and because of my pictures the other part of the story was told.

I came back to Cairo but after 2 days i decided to get to know the village which was occupied by the islamists.

I managed to get inside the village take pictures and cover the story. All my fears and expectations were narrowed to the thought that they knew I was a journalist from one of the newspapers they didn't like that is why i thought when I would be caught they might think that I was from Aljazeera newspaper and would let me do my work.

In addition to that I was a christian so if they discovered this they would immediately kill me. But it didn't happen i finished my work in the village. On my way back me and another journalist were stopped by armored men and they threatened to kill us because they thought we were from Aljazeera newspaper.

Those people were pro-regime so we tried to convince that we were not from this media. Anyway they took us inside some abandoned place to shoot us. We were trying to convince them that they could call the police to come and check whether we were lying or not and to make sure we were not from the «Aljazeera». Eventually they agreed and the police came and checked on us and confirmed that we were not. They let us go, eventually. It was one of the most horrible situations of my journalistic career because i was going with the fear of being attacked by islamists and i ended up being attacked by Pro Regime people.

Columbus S. Mavhunga, Zimbabwe

freelance journalist

The days of different journalists are different. If you are a journalist from the state owned media you feel safe that no security agencies will look for you regarding their stories as they are censored before publication. It is a different story for those in the private media: they are always looking back to see who is behind. They check who is following them while walking or driving.

It might someone who is not happy about the stories journalists have written. Let's say the journalist is writing an article about corruption in the government, police, or "offend" some minister. Journalists in Zimbabwe fear that the country's media laws might be used to arrest them for any reason – from writing "falsehoods," and "causing alarm and despondency" to being charged for defamation that leads to criminal responsibility.

Gemma Piali, Australia

journalist at the radio ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

One of my favourite things about being a journalist, is working in a newsroom when a major story is developing. You can feel the buzzing of people in the room. Editors are walking back and forward to journalists as they inform them of new developments. Journalists are typing away at their keyboards, and chatting away on their phones as they contact sources. In a radio newsroom, people are quickly walking to and from audio booths to record quotes to go to air.

It is hard to pin point one moment, but my first job in a major newsroom was as an editorial assistant at a major newspaper in Sydney. When the federal elections were on, the room was filled with journalists in the evening as they were writing up stories as the voting results were coming in. I was running around, helping them out to contact sources, switching on televisions, and transcribing what was unfolding on the television channels. Although I was not yet a fully-fledged journalist, it gave me the feel for working under pressure to tight deadlines.

When recently in Sydney there was a week of horrible weather, and intense storms, I was in the office trying to update everyone on the developments. I was monitoring social media, calling up emergency services and firefighters and police, as well as finding case studies of people effected by the weather. The power of the internet, also allows journalists to inform the public as it is happening, so as soon as new information appears, it can go straight up online. With radio, it is even more immediate as the news can be broadcasted every half an hour to an hour. People can be informed and aware of what is happening around them so instantly.

Yousef Al-Mohaimeed, Saudi Arabia

journalist at Al Jazeera newspaper and writer

In the beginning of my work as a journalist, I remember that I could write about any subject I wanted. I thought the big journalists made their names because they were more courageous . But that was not exactly true, because the censorship was hard, and you couldn't write whatever you wanted – the censors would cut my articles and reports. Then, how could I speak what I wanted?

Maybe that was that led me to the literature, especially writing of novels and short stories. Fiction is the best way to say what you want in my country. I still work as a journalist in daily newspaper, and at my free time I write novels. In the morning I go to the newspaper redaction and work on my articles while in the evening I usually go to the coffee shop near my house and create my small world, my characters, events, and I am enjoying this kind of writing.

MediaSapiens thanks Maria Legedza for help in editing